Info Bulletin

Going green: British Columbians make the switch to online billing

A new study concludes that B.C. households are more "green" with their paper use than others in North America when it comes to utility bills.

A recent comparison conducted by E-Source indicates that BC Hydro has the tenth highest adoption rate for paperless billing among 51 utilities in North America.

Province-wide, more than half a million of BC Hydro's 1.7 million residential customers have made the switch by signing up for an online account.

"I go online to check my account and electricity bill. It's not just more convenient, it also gives me an idea of which days I use the most power. I can use this information to try to find ways to save," said Bill Bennett, Minister of Energy and Mines. "We know conservation is going to play a big role in meeting B.C.'s future energy needs, so every little bit helps."

In addition to being environmentally friendly, customers who make the change will find there are many other benefits to creating an online account. For example, customers can monitor their electricity use broken down by the hour, track the cost of their electricity use up to the day before and compare their use to similar homes nearby.

When moving to a new residence, customers can also move their electricity accounts using the online services. Customers can also access their billing history and look up previous bills.